Aerosol Generation Device

ABSTRACT

An aerosol generation device configured to heat a consumable comprising tobacco includes: a housing; and a reel arranged to rotate on an axis of rotation within the housing so as to wind a consumable around the reel. The consumable has a winding dimension along which it is wound around the reel. The reel comprises a positioning means for positioning the consumable along the winding dimension before the consumable is wound around the reel, and the reel comprises an engagement means for engaging with the consumable when the reel rotates.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to aerosol generation devices configuredto heat, rather than burn, a consumable comprising tobacco or othersuitable aerosol substrate materials, to generate an aerosol forinhalation.

BACKGROUND

The popularity and use of reduced-risk or modified-risk devices (alsoknown as vaporisers) has grown rapidly in the past few years as an aidto assist habitual smokers wishing to quit smoking traditional tobaccoproducts such as cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and rolling tobacco.Various devices and systems are available that heat or warmaerosolisable substances as opposed to burning tobacco in conventionaltobacco products.

A commonly available reduced-risk or modified-risk device is the heatedsubstrate aerosol generation device or heat-not-burn device. Devices ofthis type generate an aerosol or vapour by heating an aerosol substratethat typically comprises moist leaf tobacco or other suitableaerosolisable material to a temperature typically in the range 150° C.to 300° C. Heating an aerosol substrate, but not combusting or burningit, releases an aerosol that comprises the components sought by the userbut not the toxic and carcinogenic by-products of combustion andburning. Furthermore, the aerosol produced by heating the tobacco orother aerosolisable material does not typically comprise the burnt orbitter taste resulting from combustion and burning that can beunpleasant for the user and so the substrate does not therefore requirethe sugars and other additives that are typically added to suchmaterials to make the smoke and/or vapour more palatable for the user.

In order to increase the amount of aerosol which can be generated from aconsumable, and to improve heating efficiency, it is desirable todecrease the ratio of the volume of the consumable to the surface areathat is exposed to a heater. One way of achieving this is by providingthe consumable that is thin, for example in the form of a sheet or athread. However, such consumables can be inconvenient for a user tohandle, particularly when inserting a fresh consumable into an aerosolgeneration device and removing a used consumable from the aerosolgeneration device.

As a result, it is desirable to provide an aerosol generation devicewith features to assist the user in adding and removing a thinconsumable.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect, the present disclosure provides an aerosolgeneration device configured to heat a consumable comprising tobacco,the device comprising: a housing; and a reel arranged to rotate on anaxis of rotation within the housing so as to wind a consumable aroundthe reel, the consumable having a winding dimension along which it iswound around the reel. The reel comprises: a positioning means forpositioning the consumable along the winding dimension before theconsumable is wound around the reel; and an engagement means forengaging with the consumable when the reel rotates.

Optionally, the reel comprises a reel hole configured to receive an endof the consumable along the winding dimension.

Optionally, the reel hole is a slot, and the consumable is a sheet.

Optionally, the reel hole has an end configured to position the end ofthe consumable.

Optionally, a side of the reel hole is configured to engage with theconsumable when the reel rotates.

Optionally, the aerosol generation device comprises a heating unitarranged on an inner surface of the housing or an outer surface of thereel.

Optionally, the heating unit comprises one or more heating elementsarranged to extend around the axis of rotation of the reel.

Optionally, the heating unit comprises a plurality of heating elementsseparated along the axis of rotation of the reel.

Optionally, the aerosol generation device comprises a flow channelbetween an inner surface of the housing and an outer surface of thereel, the flow channel being configured to allow flow of an aerosolgenerated from the consumable.

Optionally, the housing comprises an insertion hole configured to allowthe consumable to be inserted into the flow channel.

Optionally, the aerosol generation device comprises a protrusion and aguide groove configured to guide movement of the protrusion between aplurality of positions, wherein one of the protrusion and the guidegroove is formed on the housing and the other of the protrusion and theguide groove is formed on the reel.

Optionally, the guide groove comprises a first path which extends aroundthe axis of rotation of the reel, and, when the reel rotates, theprotrusion is guided along the first path between a start position andan end position.

Optionally, when the protrusion is at the start position, the reel holeis aligned with the insertion hole.

Optionally, the guide groove comprises a second path which extends alongthe axis of rotation of the reel between an attached position and adetached position, and the housing and the reel are configured to beattached to or detached from each other by guiding the protrusion alongthe second path.

Optionally, the attached position of the second path is between thestart position and the end position of the first path.

Optionally, the attached position is substantially near to the endposition, but not at the end position.

Optionally, the guide groove comprises a third path that extends alongthe axis of rotation of the reel and has an end at the start position,and the housing and the reel are configured to be attached to ordetached from each other by guiding the protrusion along the second pathor the third path.

Optionally, for each of the plurality of positions of the guide groove:the position is an end or corner of the guide groove, or the aerosolgeneration device comprises a respective position indicator configuredto indicate when the protrusion is at the position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to thefollowing drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a cross-section of an aerosolgeneration device;

FIGS. 2A to 2C are schematic illustrations of stages in loading aconsumable into the aerosol generation device;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic illustrations of loading a consumable intoalternative aerosol generation devices;

FIGS. 4A to 4D are schematic illustrations of alternative arrangementsof a heating unit in an aerosol generation device, and alternativeconsumables for an aerosol generation device;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic illustrations of a guide groove in anaerosol generation device;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exterior of an aerosolgeneration device.

In each of the drawings, x, y or z axes are labelled to illustraterotations between the different illustrations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an aerosol generation device 1comprising a housing 10 and a reel 20. The reel 20 is arranged to rotatewithin the housing 10 so as to wind a consumable 1000 (not shown) aroundthe reel 20. In this embodiment, the housing is an elongate housing witha cylindrical internal volume.

The consumable 1000 may be a sheet or thread of aerosol substrate. Forexample, the consumable may be a thin rectangular sheet. The aerosolsubstrate may, for example, comprise a tobacco material in various formssuch as shredded tobacco and granulated tobacco, and/or the tobaccomaterial may comprise tobacco leaf and/or reconstituted tobacco.

In this embodiment, the aerosol generation device 1 further comprises amouthpiece 30 via which a generated aerosol may be consumed by a user.More specifically, a consumable may be heated in a flow channel 40between an inner surface of the housing 10 and an outer surface of thereel 20, in order to generate an aerosol from the consumable. Theaerosol may then flow through the flow channel 40 and the mouthpiece 30to a mouth end of the aerosol generation device.

In this embodiment, the reel 20 is attached to the mouthpiece 30, suchthat a user may manually control rotation of the reel within the housingby rotating the housing relative to the mouthpiece. In otherembodiments, rotation of the reel may be driven by a motor, and thehousing and mouthpiece may be formed as a single unit. Furthermore, thereel may have a part which extends beyond the mouthpiece to an opposingend of the device that is opposed to the mouth end, such that therotation of the reel within the housing can be controlled manually usingthe opposing end, even if the housing and mouthpiece are formed as asingle unit.

FIGS. 2A to 2C are schematic illustrations of stages in loading aconsumable into the aerosol generation device. FIGS. 2A to 2C show across-section of the aerosol generation device perpendicular to an axisof rotation of the reel within the housing. The axis of rotation isparallel to the z axis labelled in FIG. 1 , and is not shown in FIGS. 2Ato 2C.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the housing 10 comprises an insertion hole 11configured to allow the consumable 1000 to be inserted into the flowchannel 40, and the reel 20 comprises a reel hole configured to receivean end of the consumable 1000 along a winding dimension, labelled ‘w’ inFIG. 2A. The winding dimension is a dimension of the consumable 1000along which the consumable is wound around the reel 20. The windingdimension is typically the longest dimension of the consumable sheet orthread, although this need not be the case.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the reel hole has an end 21 and aside 22. In the case where the consumable 1000 is a sheet, the reel holeis a slot. On the other hand, in cases where the consumable 1000 is athread, the reel hole may be correspondingly shaped to receive an end ofthe thread.

The end 21 of the reel hole acts as a positioning means for positioningthe consumable ready to be wound around the reel. More specifically, thepositioning means is used to position the consumable along the windingdimension before the consumable is wound around the reel. In otherwords, the positioning means is used to ensure that a correct length ofthe consumable has been fed into the aerosol generation device beforewinding occurs. In the case of the end 21 of the reel hole, theconsumable is fed until it reaches the end 21 and can go no further. Atthat point, a user of the aerosol generation device knows that theconsumable is correctly positioned to be wound into the aerosolgeneration device.

The side 22 of the reel hole is configured to act as an engagement meansfor engaging with the consumable when the reel 20 rotates. Morespecifically, when the reel 20 rotates, the end of the consumableexperiences friction against the side 22 and thus engages with and moveswith the side 22. As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, because the engagementmeans engages with the part of the consumable that is already in theaerosol generation device, more of the consumable is pulled into theaerosol generation device as the reel rotates, and the consumable iswound around the reel.

In the specific example shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, the reel hole isasymmetric and one side is straight while the other side 22 is curved.The curved side allows the consumable to be flat against both the side22 that acts as the engagement means and the outer surface of the reel20, without forcing the consumable 1000 to form a corner which couldotherwise increase the likelihood that the consumable breaks while beingwound around the reel 20.

As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, in this embodiment, a full rotation of thereel within the housing fully winds the consumable around the reel 20.However, in other embodiments, the reel may be configured to rotatemultiple times within the housing to wind multiple layers of theconsumable around the reel.

Additionally, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, in this embodiment, the reel20 comprises a closing element 26 arranged to close the insertion hole11 when the consumable 1000 is fully inserted. This has the advantage ofimproving efficiency by removing a way for heat to leak out from theaerosol generation device. However, in other embodiments, the closingelement 26 may be omitted.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic illustrations of loading a consumable intoalternative aerosol generation devices.

In FIG. 3A, an embodiment is illustrated where, instead of a reel holeas described above, the housing 10 and the reel 20 are entirely bisectedalong part of their length in the z axis, providing a gap through whichthe consumable can pass through the aerosol generation device. Thisarrangement allows a double-winding effect in which the consumable iswound by both ends of the gap. That is, as the reel 20 is rotated, theboth ends of the consumable 1000 are simultaneously wound through therespective insertion holes 11. Furthermore, this has the advantage thatan end of the consumable may be inserted through either of the insertionholes 11. However, in order to avoid leaving a part of the consumableoutside of the aerosol generation device when the reel is wound, theconsumable must be fed half-way through the gap before winding. In thisembodiment, a positioning means 21′ is arranged to block a correspondingpositioning means 201 on the consumable 1000 when the consumable 1000 iscorrectly positioned for winding.

In FIG. 3B, an embodiment is illustrated where the reel is not requiredto have a hole or gap as described above. Instead, the reel 20 has aresilient clip 21, 22 on its surface, which acts as both a positioningmeans and an engagement means. The user pushes the consumable throughthe insertion hole 11 until an end of the consumable engages with theresilient clip 21, 22, and then rotates the reel 20 within the housing10 to wind the consumable around the reel.

The above are just examples of alternative positioning means andengagement means, and many other examples are possible. For example, thereel 20 could have one or more piercing elements extending from an outersurface, for piercing the consumable in order to position and engagewith the consumable, and optionally even to drive heating of theconsumable, as described in application EP19202286.1.

FIGS. 4A to 4D are schematic illustrations of alternative arrangementsof a heating unit in a part of an aerosol generation device, andalternative consumables for an aerosol generation device. FIGS. 4A to 4Dare cross-sections illustrated from a perspective showing the axis ofrotation (z axis) of the reel 20.

In each of FIGS. 4A to 4D, the reel 20 is shown between two oppositewalls of the housing 10. The opposite walls are connected to each otheroutside of the plane shown in the figures.

Similarly, in FIGS. 4A to 4C, two sections of a sheet-shaped consumable1000 are shown on either side of the reel, illustrating the consumable1000 wrapped around the reel 20.

As additionally illustrated in FIG. 4A, the reel 20 comprises a heatingunit 23 arranged on an outer surface of the reel. The heating element isconnected to a power supply (not shown) which may comprise controlcircuitry for controlling the heating element automatically and/or maycomprise one or more user inputs (e.g. buttons, sliders) for a user tocontrol the heating element. The user inputs may be arranged on an outersurface of the aerosol generation device (e.g. an outer surface of thehousing 10 or the mouthpiece 30).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A, the heating unit 23 comprises aplurality of heating elements arranged to extend around the axis ofrotation of the reel (the direction of extension is out of the plane ofthe cross-section). In other words, the heating elements extend alongthe outer surface of the reel, around the axis of rotation of the reel.In embodiments where the reel 20 has a reel hole, the heating elementsmay not extend around the entire circumference of the reel, and ‘extendaround’ means that they extend around a substantial portion of thecircumference. Furthermore, the individual heating elements may not becontinuous, and may comprise a series of smaller portions along thedirection of extending around the axis of rotation.

More preferably, as shown in FIG. 4A, the heating elements may beseparated along the axis of rotation of the reel. By providing separatedheating elements, it becomes possible to control each heating elementindividually in order to, for example, heat different areas of theconsumable at different times and/or different rates in order to controlan aerosol generation profile.

For example, it is known that the rate and composition of generatedaerosol changes over the course of heating an aerosol substrate, and aheating profile of the separate heating elements may be controlled inorder to improve the aerosol generation profile.

More specifically, the separate heating elements enable an effectsimilar to continuously adding fresh aerosol substrate, by starting toheat different parts of the consumable at different times.

Additionally, by activating different numbers of heating elements,different intensities of aerosol can be generated. Activating differentnumbers of heating elements may additionally control the total amount ofaerosol which can be generated per consumable. Accordingly, the numberor arrangement of activated heating elements may, for example, becontrolled by the user.

The aerosol generation device partly schematically illustrated in FIG.4B is similar to FIG. 4A, except that the heating unit 23′ is a singleheating element arranged to extend around the axis of rotation of thereel. More specifically, the heating unit 23′ is a uniform sheet on theouter surface of the reel. This alternative embodiment may reduce thelevel of detail in which a heating profile may be defined, but has thebenefit of simplifying manufacture of the aerosol generation device.

The aerosol generation device partly schematically illustrated in FIG.4C is similar to FIG. 4A, except that the heating unit 23 is arranged onan inner surface of the housing 10. This means that any controlcircuitry for the heating unit may be provided in the housing. This mayalso make it easier to connect user inputs between an outer surface ofthe housing 10 and the heating unit 23.

The aerosol generation device partly schematically illustrated in FIG.4D is similar to FIG. 4A, except that the reed hole has a shape adaptedto receive an end of a thread-shaped consumable 1000′. Sections of thethread-shaped consumable 1000′ are shown wrapped around the reel 20,starting from the reel hole 22.

The alternative features of FIGS. 4A to 4D may also be combined. Forexample, the heating unit 23 may be a uniform sheet on the inner surfaceof the housing. As another example, the aerosol generation device maycomprise both of a heating unit on the inner surface of the housing, anda heating unit on the outer surface of the reel.

Furthermore, in other embodiments, the heating unit may be omittedentirely. For example, the aerosol generation device may instead have aninductive or conductive driving element arranged to drive a heating unitthat is integrated in the consumable.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic illustrations of a guide groove in anaerosol generation device.

FIG. 5A schematically illustrates the principle of the guide groove. Inan embodiment, the reel 20 comprises a guide groove 24, and the housing10 comprises a protrusion 13. The guide groove is configured to guidemovement of the protrusion. More specifically, the guide groove is deepenough to allow the protrusion to move along the groove, and has wallswhich prevent the protrusion 13 from leaving the groove. Because theguide groove 24 and the protrusion 13 are formed on opposite ones of thehousing and the reel, the guide groove 24 and the protrusion 13 guiderelative movement of the housing 10 and the reel 20. This is achieved inother embodiments by forming the guide groove 24 on the housing 10, andthe protrusion 13 on the reel 20.

FIG. 5B schematically illustrates a more detailed embodiment having aguide groove. In FIG. 5B, the reel 20 is shown attached to themouthpiece 30, and the housing 10 is omitted. The guide groove comprisesa first path 241 which extends around the axis of rotation of the reel.When the reel rotates, the protrusion 13 formed on the housing 10 (notshown) is guided along the first path between a start position 242 andan end position 243. The end position 243 may be a position at which theclosing element 26 (if present) closes the insertion hole 11.

In order to make it easier for a user to insert an end of the consumable1000 into the reel hole, it is preferable that the start position 242and the protrusion 13 are arranged such that, when the protrusion is atthe start position, the reel hole is aligned with the insertion hole 11of the housing 10.

It is desirable to be able to separate the reel 20 from the housing 10,for example in order to provide access clean the inner surface of thehousing and/or the outer surface of the reel. Separating the reel 20from the housing 10 may also be used to remove the consumable 1000 afteruse.

As a result, it is preferable that the guide groove in embodimentscomprises a second path 244 which extends along the axis of rotation ofthe reel. The second path may also extend around the axis of rotation,for example in a helical shape, or may be fully parallel to the axis ofrotation, as shown in FIG. 5B. The second path extends between adetached position 245 and an attached position 246. The guide groove hasan open end at the detached position 245, such that the housing 10 canbe fully separated from the reel 20. On the other hand, at the attachedposition 246, the second path connects to the first path such that theprotrusion can follow the first path while the reel 20 is attached tothe housing 10. Thus, the housing and the reel can be attached to ordetached from each other by guiding the protrusion 13 along the secondpath 244.

Preferably, in embodiments where the guide groove has the first path 241and the second path 244, the attached position 246 of the second path islocated along the first path between the start position 242 and the endposition 243 of the first path. This means that the housing 10 cannoteasily become accidentally separated from the reel 20, because theprotrusion 13 must first be aligned at the attached position 246 beforethe protrusion 13 can move along the second path 244.

More preferably, the attached position 246 is substantially near to theend position 243, that is, closer to the end position 243 than to thestart position 242, but not actually at the end position 243. With thisarrangement, it is relatively easy to detach the reel 20 from thehousing 10 after use of a consumable to generate an aerosol. This isparticularly advantageous in cases where generation of the aerosol alsogenerates sticky or adhesive by-products which make it harder to rotatethe reel 20 within the housing 10 until the device is cleaned.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the guide groove may further comprise a third path247 that provides an alternative way of attaching or detaching thehousing 10 and the reel 20. Like the second path, the third path extendsalong the axis of rotation of the reel, and the housing and the reel areconfigured to be attached to or detached from each other by guiding theprotrusion along the second path. However, in the case of the third path247, the third path has an end at the start position 242, making it easyto reassemble the aerosol generation device after cleaning in a positionready to wind a fresh consumable around the reel 20. While this isuseful, the third path 247 is not essential, because the aerosolgeneration device 20 can instead be reassembled to the same position viathe second and first paths.

In the specific example of the third path shown in FIG. 5B, the thirdpath 247 partly overlaps with the reel hole 21, 22, such that theprotrusion 13 moves over the reel hole when the third path is used. Inan alternative embodiment, the second path 244 could instead be arrangedto overlap with the reel hole 21, 22, and the third path 247 could beomitted, in order to maximise the space available for the heating unit23 on the outer surface of the reel 20.

In other embodiments, the protrusion and guide groove may be omitted.For example, the reel 20 may in some embodiments be permanentlycontained in the housing 10, such that the housing 10 itself can guiderotation of the reel 20. In such embodiments, a used consumable may beremoved by reversing the winding process shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C.

As further shown in FIG. 5B, the reel 20 may additionally comprise oneor more spacers 25 to maintain a space between the outer surface of thereel 20 and the inner surface of the housing 10 in the region comprisingthe heating unit 23 (and the consumable 1000, when present).

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exterior of an aerosolgeneration device having a guide groove as described above.

With the arrangement shown in FIG. 5B, there are three functionalpositions for the user to consider when the reel 20 is attached to thehousing 10: a start position 242 at which an end of the consumable canbe inserted into the aerosol generation device; a locked position (theend position 243), at which the consumable is fully wound into thedevice ready for aerosol generation; and an unlocked position (theattached position 246) at which the device can be disassembled to removethe consumable and/or clean the device.

In order to assist the user in finding each of these functionalpositions, in this embodiment, the aerosol generation device preferablycomprises position indicators to indicate a position of the protrusion13 and one or more of the positions in the guide groove 24.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the housing 10 has a firstposition indicator 12 arranged to indicate the position of theprotrusion 13, and the mouthpiece 30 has a second, third and fourthposition indicator 31, 32, 33 arranged to indicate respectively thestart position 242, the end position 243 and the attached position 246.In embodiments where the reel 20 is not attached to the mouthpiece 30,the second, third and fourth position indicators 31, 32, 33 may insteadbe arranged on an externally visible part of the reel 20. Furthermore,in embodiments where the reel 20 has the protrusion 13 and the housing10 has the guide groove 24, the locations of the position indicators arecorrespondingly reversed.

In this embodiment, the protrusion 13 is formed on an inner surface ofthe housing between the insertion hole 11 and the mouthpiece 30. As aresult, the first position indicator 12 may be omitted, so long as theuser understands that each of the second, third and fourth indicators31, 32, 33 need to be aligned with the insertion hole 11.

Furthermore, since the start position 242 and the end position 243 ofthe first path 241 are at ends or corners of the guide groove 24, theuser is able to find these positions by feel when rotating the reel 20within the housing 10. Therefore, the associated second and thirdposition indicators 31, 32 may be omitted.

More generally, for each of the plurality of defined positions in theguide groove 24, the position is an end or corner of the guide groove24, or the aerosol generation device comprises a respective positionindicator configured to indicate when the protrusion is at the position.In the case of the attached position 246 and the detached position 245,both positions are indicated by the fourth position indicator 33.

1. An aerosol generation device configured to heat a consumablecomprising tobacco, the device comprising: a housing; and a reelarranged to rotate on an axis of rotation within the housing so as towind the consumable around the reel, the consumable having a windingdimension along which it is wound around the reel, the reel comprising:a positioning means for positioning the consumable along the windingdimension before the consumable is wound around the reel; and anengagement means for engaging with the consumable when the reel rotates.2. An aerosol generation device according to claim 1, wherein the reelcomprises a reel hole configured to receive an end of the consumablealong the winding dimension.
 3. An aerosol generation device accordingto claim 2, wherein the reel hole is a slot, and the consumable is inthe shape of a sheet.
 4. An aerosol generation device according to claim2, wherein the reel hole has an end configured to position the end ofthe consumable.
 5. An aerosol generation device according to claim 2,wherein a side of the reel hole is configured to engage with theconsumable when the reel rotates.
 6. An aerosol generation deviceaccording to claim 1, comprising a heating unit arranged on an innersurface of the housing or an outer surface of the reel.
 7. An aerosolgeneration device according to claim 6, wherein the heating unitcomprises one or more heating elements arranged to extend around theaxis of rotation of the reel.
 8. An aerosol generation device accordingto claim 7, wherein the heating unit comprises a plurality of heatingelements separated from one another along the axis of rotation of thereel.
 9. An aerosol generation device according to claim 1, comprising aflow channel between an inner surface of the housing and an outersurface of the reel, the flow channel being configured to allow flow ofan aerosol generated from the consumable.
 10. An aerosol generationdevice according to claim 9, wherein the housing comprises an insertionhole configured to allow the consumable to be inserted into the flowchannel.
 11. An aerosol generation device according to claim 1,comprising a protrusion and a guide groove configured to guide movementof the protrusion between a plurality of positions, wherein one of theprotrusion and the guide groove is formed on the housing and the otherof the protrusion and the guide groove is formed on the reel.
 12. Anaerosol generation device according to claim 11, wherein the guidegroove comprises a first path which extends around the axis of rotationof the reel, and wherein, when the reel rotates, the protrusion isguided along the first path between a start position and an endposition.
 13. An aerosol generation device according to claim 12,wherein the guide groove comprises a second path which extends along theaxis of rotation of the reel between an attached position and a detachedposition, and wherein the housing and the reel are configured to beattached to or detached from each other by guiding the protrusion alongthe second path.
 14. An aerosol generation device according to claim 13,wherein the attached position of the second path is between the startposition and the end position of the first path.
 15. An aerosolgeneration device according to claim 11, wherein, for each of theplurality of positions, the position is an end or a corner of the guidegroove.
 16. An aerosol generation device according to claim 11, wherein,for each of the plurality of positions, the aerosol generation devicecomprises a respective position indicator configured to indicate whenthe protrusion is at the position.